An iconic hair stylist in Two Rivers is calling it a career.
Lori Coenen, the owner of Lori’s Hair Care, is retiring after 42 years of owning her business and 50 years in hair care.
She says she knew she wanted to be in the business,“Since all my dolls were bald. I knew little on I wanted to do hair.”
She originally opened Lori’s Hair Care because she was dissatisfied with where she was doing hair, and felt business was going backwards.
Although she is excited to retire, she will definitely miss her regular customers and friends.
After being in this kind of business for so long, she has seen a lot.
Lori joked that this includes, “People pooping, children pooping, people crying, happy tears and sad tears.”
One of the hardest things someone in this business can do is to be someone’s last haircut.
“One of my customers always said, ‘When I die, you are doing my hair,’” Lori recalled.
Sadly, that customer died in what Lori called a “horrible car accident.”
She thought back on the day she was set to give the woman her final hair cut, and admitted, “I thought I was going to pass out in the parking lot, but soon as I opened the door, it was like she was waiting for me. It’s an honor to be asked.”
On the other hand, a child’s first haircut is also a very memorable experience.
“I was at a graduation party for one of the kids, and he said, ‘C’mere, c’mere. I want to show you you giving me my first haircut,’” she reminisced “I said, ‘Oh my God, do I look young?’ And he goes, ‘Look at me!”
Jackie and Joel Hilke, the owners of Big Loads, are the lucky people who purchased Lori’s Hair Care, the building right next door to their own.
Although they didn’t own Lori’s Hair Care until now, they did benefit from the salon in some ways.
Big Loads can sometimes be hard for people to find, but mentioning that it is next to Lori’s Hair Care always makes it easier.
Jackie told Lori, “Everybody knows where my laundry mat is because of your business.”
Big Loads will be converting the building into another laundromat, this one specifically to offer their new service, the wash, dry, fold.
The Hilkes say this service has them come to your house, pick up your laundry, wash, dry, and fold it at the laundromat, and bring it back without you having to lift a pinky.
Big Loads will be one of the only places around that offers this kind of service, and it is definitely in demand.
“We would get a call every month asking, ‘Do you do a wash, dry, fold service? Do you know anywhere that does?” Jackie explained. “(In) Two Rivers, Manitowoc, there really isn’t an advertised service, and nobody knows even what it is much that it’s a thing.”
With this new amenity, Big Loads will be expecting a different clientele than the one they currently see.
Jackie says this includes, “People who work full-time jobs and the last thing they want to do is laundry…(and) the elderly who just can’t walk up and down their steps if their washer dryer is in the basement.”
Although sad to see it go, Lori is happy with her decision to retire and glad that her building is being passed into good hands.
